-hellfire-

HELLFIRE

CHAPTER ONE

THE COMPETITION

‘Another boring class at yet another boring school’ thought Christi Moors as she listened to her biology teacher – Mr. Jones – drone on about how important exercise was to keep your body fit. Doodling mindlessly on the table beside her was Olivia Retro. Most likely brooding over the fact that she still hasn’t asked out the guy she really likes, Max Frown, out to the prom, that just happens to be in 4 days time.
When Christi first came to the school in year seven, both she and Olivia were enemies. During that year, Christi became proclaimed as an unbeatable champion in sports. She won all her events, including swimming. And had impressed every teacher when she was a prizewinner. Extremely rare for a student, especially for new students to that. But of course, Christi exceeded all expectations of her in sport, and easily claimed the trophy hers.
In addition to that, Christi had very good looks. She had a lean, fit body that was just exploding with stamina. Her richly tanned skin emphasized her perfectly formed features. Slim face, with a not too large – not too small nose. Soft yet piercing blue eyes, that made it feel like when you looked deep into them that u were actually staring into the dark depths of the sea. And when she looked over to you, she seemed to know exactly what you were doing, analyzing you, seeing though all your defenses, despite how hard you try to conceal them. Above her angelic-like eyes, she had flawlessly curves eyebrows, giving her an all-sly look on her face. She had long, wavy auburn hair, that was neatly trimmed an inch after her shoulders, giving you’re the impression that yes, she was sexy, but smart too. Her mouth was perfectly formed, with a strawberry red colour to them. Sometimes, her mouth seemed to have a mind of it’s own, just ready to shoot off a rude or pleasing remark, good enough to blow you off your feet. She had long, slender arms and legs that always showed off their sexiness and she had long elegant toes and fingers that were always so soft to touch. Christi seemed more like an angel descended from the havens above, than a normal human being, and her even presence demanded total authority.
Olivia, on the other hand, was fairly pretty, but not as pretty as Christi. Olivia had a black, lean body (slightly chubby) and long legs. She had slender arms and fingers that looked like they were carved from stone. Her face was round and smooth, just like a newborn baby. She had seemly curved eyebrows that curved over her deep, soft, dark brown eyes, that seemed to go on forever in the dark forms of brown. She had thick dark red lips that stood out because of colour. And she had frizzy, black, long hair that tumbled down until her waist. Olivia’s talents were on the opposite basis of Christi. She was an average student and unlike Christi in sports, was downgraded in PE. However, Olivia always beat Christi in art, but always lost against her in DT. And in all her other classes, both she and Christi came equal-first. Their friends always said that one day, one of them will fall, and the other will stand triumphant. BUT, that never happened. 2 years later, Christi and Olivia became great friends but they never forgot their competition. Later on, when they finished school, they went their separate ways, only to meet up in the same University. Greeted with big hugs and kisses-on-the-cheeks. So for 3 months, Christi and Olivia lived their happy lives in University, having their own share of boyfriends and competition momentarily forgotten.
Until now…

CHAPTER TWO

THE SHADOW

There was a knock on the door and everyone looked up – except Christi – to see Mr. Sloan and Mr. Jones deep in conversation. But Christi wasn’t concentrating on the teachers. She was concentrating on the figure stood outside the door. The figure – or shadow – was definitely masculine. Other than that, Christi had a hard time defining his features. It was all a blurred shadow to her. She nudged Olivia and pointed to where to figure stood.
“Who do you think it is?” Olivia whispered, careful not to disturb the silence of the room.
“I don’t know…do you think it is a new guy?” Christi said, shuffling uncomfortably on the stool.
“How do you know it’s a guy?” Olivia asked.
“I know it’s a guy because I’m smart” Christi replied sarcastically.
“Well sorry, Little Miss Fart!”
Christi heard Olivia say something else under her breath, but didn’t quite catch it. All her focus was on the looming shadow at the door. She seemed oddly hypnotized by its presence. Gingerly she raised her hand to catch the attention of the teachers.
“Yes, Christi?” Mt. Jones said, with a slight tint of scorn in it. “Another one of your supposed nosy questions?”
“No sir” Christi sharply replied, clearly annoyed, unaware that the figure at the door was watching her intently. “But I don’t suppose that this may be one of your ‘emotional breakdowns’ in front of the school principal, or your BOSS” harshly emphasizing the last words, letting them roll off her tongue like snakes. And anyway, he WAS having an emotional breakdown; he was sweating and fidgeting ever since Mr. Sloan had even stepped foot into the classroom.
“Well, how dar…”
“I know, I know” Christi said coolly, cutting him off sentence. “How dare I clearly state out the obvious that you are clearly sweating and fidgeting in the shadow of your BOSS…”
Just before Christi could finish her sentence and Mr. Jones to reply, they were interrupted by a short muffled laugh outside the door. Christi just turned in time to see a sight to give her all the more reason to never leave school again. The figure that once loomed in the darkness behind their door was now obscurely bathed in light, illuminating its features. Christi was definitely right about one thing; the person was masculine, and a handsome one to that. He was lean, and had a slight muscle build going on in his arms and legs. Like Christi herself, he had richly tanned skin, and long slender fingers. His shoulders were slightly broad and he was about 6 ft – 6 ft 4. His face was slightly red with the effort in holding back his laugh. He wasn’t hairy at all, so he had amazingly great eyebrows that looked so flawless. He had a medium nose and an oval, thin face. His hair was short and gelled up spiky, giving an extra shine to his dark-brown hair with blond tips. His eyes seemed to be like an exact replica of Christi’s, with blue calculating eyes. As his gaze swept across the room, his gaze met Christi’s and both of them were lost in the endless depth of the sea in each others eyes. As if woken up from a trance, he smiled and showed his perfectly shining white teeth, lined neatly rowed together, framed with light-red lips. Automatically responding, Christi smiled back, also showing her flawless shining white teeth. All Christi’s composure seemed to just break down under his gaze, slowly working its way down into her heart. It was Mr. Sloan’s voice that finally broke the magical bond that was weaving Christi and the new person together.
“Class, I’d like you to meet…Devon Sea. He is a new member of the A-set” he said. “I want you to all treat him like your equal, and I repeat, do not bully him. Do I make myself clear?” droned
“Yes sir”
With a satisfied huff, and one final gaze sweeping the room, Mr. Sloan left.
“Does any one have anymore questions before we continue where we left off?” Mr. Jones managed to stutter in a small voice.
In saying that, every single hand shot into the air almost at the same time. Unfortunately for Mr. Jones, it was Christi’s hand that shot off into the air first.
“Yes Christi?” he hissed, trying to put on his ‘don’t mess with me’ look, but instead looking like a sick cat at sea.
“Sir, I would like to know where Devon is sitting” Christi purred slyly. She knew all to well that the only free seats were next to her and next to Amber Courts.
Amber Courts was Christi’s greatest rival ever since she arrived at University. She always wore a rose scented perfume that if any boys smelt it, would send their hormones up to 100% Christi later referred this perfume ‘sex lust’ because it increases the lust for the naked body-parts to come together. Amber had average looks; with a permanent evil look etched across her face. If it weren’t for her perfume, all the boys would probably go careening off to Christi. Amber had short sandy hair, neatly trimmed at the shoulder. Slightly chubby body, with a small amount of muscle thrown in, framed by the brilliance of her white skin. Slightly long legs and arms, and short chubby fingers. She had light green eyes and almost-bushy eyebrows. Thick lips framed in brown and red. Amber was already seething because Devon had just dismissed her with a thought and turned his gaze on Christi. Even worse, Christi had even found a cure for her perfume! And she wore it all the time.
“Well, I think I should leave that choice to Devon, Christi” Mr. Jones said, leaving Devon to stand-alone and decide. After a few moments, Mr. Jones whispered into Devon’s ear and pointed quite smugly to the seat next to Amber.
“Ok sir, I am going to sit down next to her…” And Devon pointed to the seat next to Christi. Wiping off the smug grin off Mr. Jones face. “Is that Ok?” Devon added, seemingly addressing the whole room, and not just him. Despite all the thought Christi gave it, she couldn’t quite shake off the feeling that she is drawn to Devon, like a magnet. ‘Another mystery to solve’ She thought, sighing. And with that, she watched dreamily as Devon made his way through the class to get to her.

CHAPTER 3

SUPERNATURAL GLOW

Devon whistled proudly to himself as he made his way to the girl he was hitting on. Her name is Christi Moors, said Mr. Jones, and a loose mouth to that. Devon disliked Mr. Jones the moment his words came out of his mouth. The strange thing was that the closer he got to Christi, he had this strange sensation over him like he was being tugged towards her, even though he had just met her. Another strange thing was that Christi also had the same deep blue eyes that when looked into, you seemed to look into the very deep sea itself. He sought small council from the Voice but nothing. The voice was like a mini oracle in his brain that never seemed to be wrong – yet. Sometimes, it would stay silent like in death. Sometimes, it was a rowdy as a cowboy on a bull. Devon never really understood the Voice. But what he did know was that the voice would come when it’s needed.
Devon was breathing in normal air when all of a sudden, the other girl with a free seat made a discreet movement. She seemed to be spraying on perfume. Chuckling, Devon was about to step over her bag when this sensation thwacked him across the head. Because of this, Devon tripped over her bag and was sent sprawling across the floor. Just before he made impact, he looked up and saw something that troubled him so deeply it scared him. In Christi’s eyes, he saw total, utter fear and anger blazing inside them…then everything went black.
Devon woke up a couple of hours later in a nice, warm, comfortable bed with the perfume-spraying girl setting at the side, looking deep into his eyes. He felt pain in his head and knew that the next day he would have a severe hangover. Other than that he felt fine, apart from the fact that he had this strange sensation in him to just reach up and kiss the girl watching him. Fortunately, Devon was still stronger and fought over the disturbing sensation. The girl shifted so she could catch Devon’s gaze directly. Suddenly Devon was all too aware are he was stark naked underneath the sheets. Who undressed me? He thought frantically unable to escape her seductive gaze. Panicking, he squirmed underneath the bed covers. Then, all of a sudden the voice came.
Whatever you do don’t kiss her!
As if reading his mind, she whispered in his ear “my name is Amber” and as if that settled all his worries, she held him in her arms and moved in for the kiss, and all he could do was wait there dreading the worse. Then when all seemed at loss, Christi came barging in. Breaking the door down along the way. Like a guardian angel, she grabbed Amber by the shoulders and threw her against the wall. He was both amazed and tired of Christi’s strength. Drained of energy, he lied down on the bed, watching the events occur sleepily. Again, what deeply disturbed him was the fiery rage embedded deep into Christi’s eyes. Like great infernos of fire taking place throughout time unnoticed. Just before he fell asleep, he noticed Christi’s skin began to glow like the sun itself. Other than that, Christi began to clutch her chest, falling to the floor, obviously in pain. Worried, the last thing Devon remembered was falling to the floor, reaching our for Christi…

CHAPTER FOUR

FRIENDLY WELCOME

The next day Devon woke up just to meet the warm welcome of Christi’s inviting eyes. Sometimes he just wished that he could gaze into her eyes forever, never breaking contact. But of course, he couldn’t. Her very presence cleansed the air of all its pollution, leaving trails of harmony after her.
They were in a different room this time, and this one looked like a room that belonged to the girls dormitory. Alarmed, he squirmed around, briefly breaking off eye contact to feel around under the bed sheets. To his utter relief, he had cloths on. They were soft, silk, dark blue pajamas that matched his eyes. Underneath he felt his boxers and underneath that he felt bandages and scars and burns. Strange he thought where did I get these injuries? He tried to get the Voice to answer but, as usual, it didn’t respond. Devon heard the rushing water of a shower turning on and looked up with surprised all over his face. As silent as the midnight’s breeze he mused. Devon propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. Christi had no roommate, so she lived on her own. He was clearly impressed. She made a great room, intensely decorated and neat too. Colourful and organized with abstract art pieces hung up on the wall. Beside the bed lay a flyer. Genuinely curious, Devon reached over and picked it up, careful not to disturb the other sheets of paper lying around. It read;

WANT TO GET WITH YOUR ALL TIME CRUSH?
WANT TO DANCE WITH THE ONE YOU LOVE?
WELL HERE’S YOUR CHANCE! ON FEBRUARY THE 14TH 2007 WE ARE THROWING A PROM BALL IN THE BALL ROOM LOCATED AT THE SOUTH WING OF THE SCHOOL.
BE THERE OR YOU’LL REGRET IT!

As Devon read the flyer, he felt a pang of disappointment. He hasn’t got a date, and, he wanted to ask Christi, but of course, he was sure she already had a date…with that body of hers. Devon decided to take the risk of humiliation anyway. He got up off the bed, groaning with the effort and walked towards the bathroom. Just as he was about to speak, he opened the door and gasped the words dying in his throat. Because of the light behind the shower, it illuminated he body, casting a shadow of her on the curtain. And WOW he though he’s just seen an angel. Compared to what he saw when she was wearing clothes, downgraded itself compared to what he was seeing now. Devon had this sudden impulsion to draw back the curtain to see her true. Yet he didn’t have too. In a matter of seconds, she turned off the water, drew back the curtain and stepped out onto the marble tiles of her bathroom floor. She was completely naked, and she was right in front of Devon. She stopped in mid-stride and stared at him. Devon was too shocked and too frozen to move, let alone blink. Again he stared into those deep pools of wonder and mystery, he was just going to reach for her towel when there was a blood-curdling scream behind them.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” screamed Olivia, completely ghostly white, clutching onto the door for dear life. By sheer fright and surprise, Devon and Christi screamed and jumped into Christi’s bath. Landing on top of each other. Olivia, looked like she was going to explode, and then, she ran out.
Left in the bathtub, Devon jumped out, grabbed Christi’s towel, handed it to her, did a polite, small bow, turned and ran. He ran for dear life. Propelled by some unseen force, afraid that if he closed his eyes, he would see Christi’s beautiful, bare body standing naked in…NO! STOP IT! YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT! But despite all his protesting, he couldn’t shake Christi’s naked image out of his mind, like it was encrypted into his brain.
With a swift kick, Devon smashed open his door, threw himself in, slammed the door shut and passed out. But not before he looked up and saw the looming figure of Amber on his couch…

CHAPTER FIVE

GRAND TOUR

A few hours later, Devon again woke up next to…no one. Sighing with relief, he jumped up, out of his bed and cautiously looked around. He was in his dormitory room. Relaxing, Devon approached his wardrobe to get dressed.
At his mirror, he gelled his hair up and pulled on black khaki trousers matched with a black shirt with a large flaming skull on the front of it. With the tail of the flame circling around to the back, and then again circling around a sword pointing northwards. As he was placing on his triple-black-silver-iron-studded-leather-watch on his left wrist, there was a soft knock on the door and quite a few murmurs behind the oak. Unable to determine whether the voices belonged to a male or a female, Devon shrugged on his black and red backpack and strode to the door. He opened it to reveal 3 boys from his biology class standing there, looking both genuinely pissed, intrigued and confused. He stood aside, welcoming them in. Just before Devon was going to shut the door behind them, he noticed that they weren’t wearing any backpacks.
“Hey, umm guys? Why aren’t you wearing your backpacks” Devon asked, subconsciously fiddling with his own. “Isn’t…like…class in 10 minutes?” Devon immediately regretted saying the words the moment they came out of his mouth. All three of them were grinning like a bunch of idiots.
“What? What did I say?” he said, alarmed. Inching a few steps backwards away from the group. The first boy, who seemed to be in charge, had long jet-black hair that was laid flat in a gothic-type hairdo. He had deathly pale skin that matched his stick-thin body and he was unnaturally tall. Despite his entire outward look, he demanded authority. Walking like he was ‘the big man’ He had unnaturally gray eyes, with a long thin face, stick-like nose and pencil-thin lips. Devon guessed that he wasn’t very popular at school because of the way he treated everyone around him like dirt.
The second boy seemed to be the twin brother of the first. Yet slightly chubbier and had more colour in his skin.
The third boy was entirely different to the other two. He seemed to represent a bodyguard rather than a comrade. He was heavily muscled to make his arms and legs as thick as a tree-trunk. But he was so small, he didn’t even reach 5ft yet! His face was extremely fat and he had no hair. Thick lips, pig-like nose and slits for eyes. Virtually, the boy had no neck; just the shoulders and the lower neck were connected. The boy had a triple chin that looked like it was 3 balloons stuck together. His skin was dry and flaky, like drying paint on a warm summers day.
“Wait, let us introduce ourselves” said the first boy. “I am Rodney Fuller.”
“And I am Felix Fuller” said the second boy.
“And I am Peter Stone” Said the third boy.
“And the reason why we don’t have our backpacks” Continued Rodney, “Is because we are skipping school…”
“And instead giving you a grand tour of the school, especially the girls dorms” finished Felix. The strange thing was, the boys seemed nice enough, but something told Devon to be weary.
‘They’re planning something nasty…watch out…’ said the voice, somewhere in the back of his head. Giving him an urgent warning. Some part of Devon wanted to just order them out of his room. But that would mean making them enemies. And they looked like a group that you would not want to have as an enemy, and besides, he seriously didn’t need an enemy of any sort, at this period of time. So he stood there, like a servant in waiting, dumbly standing in front of his own master/mistress. After thinking it all out, he finally summed up the courage to say something.
“Why do you guys want to give me a tour?” he asked, sliding off his own backpack to set on the table. “What‘s so special about me?”
Again, whenever he asked a question, they all started sniggering like a bunch of idiots.
“What’s special about you Devon” chuckled Rodney. “Is that you are a new guy, and new guys always have the opportunity to join our gang after the tour…”
“And we also have a great surprise for you” cut Felix.
Devon sat down and thought. It took a while to digest all of what they were saying. But he also really needed a tour, so he’ll know where to go all the time. But something wasn’t quite right…there was something extremely wrong in all of this. But again, curiosity won the better of him, so he agreed. Nodding, the group shuffled out of his room leaving everything behind.
The start of the tour was great! They first showed him the boys’ dormitory, then the west wing where all the health centers were, then the sports stuff. It appeared to be normal at first, showing all the boy stuff and essentials. It was until they started showing him the girls’ dormitories when things went horribly wrong. It started like any other normal tour, showing the rooms, the hall, the bathrooms and the libraries. But then Devon began to feel that horrible sensation. After a few hours, all Devon could think about was Amber…Amber this, Amber that. Everything Amber! He began to yearn for her, wanting to touch her, to kiss her, to love her. He couldn’t help it. He was certain that the voice was trying to tell him something, but with his head all clouded about Amber, he couldn’t think clearly.
Then they showed him into a girls room…and sitting on the bed was Amber. They threw him in, watching him scramble away from her…
The last thing he remembered was having a sucking sensation on his neck…

CHAPTER SIX

SAVIOUR

1 hour before the Fuller gang sent Devon to Amber’s feet, Christi Moors was enjoying a nice hot chocolate at the foot of the library’s stairs. Next to her, was Olivia Retro, and she was enjoying a Red Bull, mixed with apple and lemon juice. They were talking about biology homework and whether which questions were right and wrong. In 2 hours, was their English literature lecture so the decided to go to library. Standing up, Christi and Olivia disposed of their plastic cups and walked towards the library.
At the library, they sat at the far end of the room, to be unnoticed by common eyes. They rested on soft, dark blue beanbags with 1 book on each hand. Olivia had chosen the books, Worm Hole and Killer. Christi had chosen, Prophecies and The supernatural power of the Hellfire. They each chose one book to read, so they could kill time. Putting aside Prophecies, Christi opened the supernatural power of the Hellfire and started reading.
The story was about a girl who possessed such great power that if used by unholy minds or hands, it could destroy all life. She lived a normal 15th century life, learning the ways of the wise. That was until a male traveler arrived their village, searching for a place to live, his very presence stirred up the power inside the girl, unleashing such ferocity towards those around her, tragedies occur. That’s when the young traveler reads an ancient text and realizes what’s happening. He takes action, making the precautionary measures and approaches the girl’s dangerous state…
Christi was interrupted by her reading by Olivia coughing slightly, as if to warn her about something. She looked around to see Devon walking – or more likely – trailing after the Fuller gang. What the hell does he think he’s doing?! She thought, watching the group pass by. As she watched Devon, the more she thought that something was terribly wrong. This was later confirmed. Just as the were rounding a corner, she noticed Rodney Fuller, the leader of the gang, take out a rather large, silver pen. To normal eyes, it would look like just an ordinary pen. But Christi knew better. It was a cleverly concealed perfume bottle. She watched him press down on the lid and instead of a pen coming out, a spray of perfume. Immediately Christi took action. Right after they rounded the corner, Christi jumped out of her seat and dashed for the group, leaving Olivia to run after her. She rounded a corner to see the group stop at a door. HER door. What the hell are they doing at my door? Thought Christi as she watched the group, hiding behind an-outside-entry bookcase. She observed the group produce a key and insert it into the lock, opening the door. A copy of my key! She thought, how did they get it? Subconsciously, Christi reached down into her pocket, producing her original key. Sighing with relief, she replaced her key, back into her pocket. There was a small push behind her and a female hand quickly shot up over her mouth to prevent her from making a sound. She swiveled around to see Olivia with a very perplexed face.
“How did they get your key?” she asked, slightly moving her position to get a better view of the group.
“If I KNEW that Olivia, do you think I would be standing here like an idiot, worrying my ass off?” Christi hissed, rather bitterly. “And besides, that’s not my key, it’s a copy”
“OK, jeez, sorry!” Olivia murmured, adding in “ever since that guy Devon arrived, you’ve been acting really differently…” Christi seemed to merely dismiss the thought but deep down inside she knew that ever since Devon did come she’s been acting strangely…
“Christi! Look!” hissed Olivia in her ear, breaking her chain of thought. Christi followed he gaze in the direction Olivia was pointing to and examined the area. It was her dressing room mirror. The only reason why you could see it was because the group had managed to open her door. With a brief glance, it looked like there was nothing there. But Christi knew that if Olivia could spot, so can she. Peering closer, Christi found what she had been looking for. Amber was on her bed…
Almost screaming rage, Christi charged towards her bedroom door, only to be wrenched back by Olivia.
“What the hell do you think your doing?!” she screamed
“I’m being smart” Olivia simply said. “Look, Amber sent the gang there for a reason rite? So maybe Amber doesn’t need Dev…” and there, Olivia froze, words dying in her throat. Swiveling around, Christi saw the gang grab Devon and throw him in. Then slamming the door behind him. They all quickly looked around and run off. Leaving all traces of there bring there erased. Overcome by some sudden rage, Christi roared and charged down the hallway at top speed. With a violent kick, and supernatural strength, she smashed the door into a million pieces, letting the splinter shower the room.
To Christi’s much disappointment, Amber wasn’t in the bedroom. Following her scent, she found them standing beside the wall, kissing intensely. Amber was giving Devon love bites and Devon was kissing her. Because Devon was facing Christie, she could see something out of place. Devon’s eyes were clouded and glazed over, like something possessed him. With a deafening shriek, filled with rage and hurt, Christi hurtled towards the pair, followed by Olivia’s yell to stop. Wrenching Amber’s hair in her hands, she threw her across the room. She made impact on Christi’s Dressing room mirror, shattering it to the floor. Remarkably, Amber wasn’t hurt! Both Christi and Olivia stared open mouthed in shock as she stood up, brushing off all the excess shards of glad off her body.
When she finally finished, and looked up to see us staring in disbelief, she threw back and started laughing. It wasn’t the sort of a sort of friendly/funny types of laughter. It was evil. It was more like an evil cackle than a laugh. Eventually, when she stopped laughing, she walked up to Christi.
“I know your secret Christi,” she hissed into her ear, so only she could hear. “But the difference is…do you know it…” Then, 2 seconds after she said those words, she disappeared into thin air…

CHAPTER SEVEN

REASEARCH

The next day, all the students who thought they knew what happened congratulated Christi for her bravery. She should have been happy, but no. She wasn’t. She couldn’t get what Amber said the day before out of her head. What could she possibly know about me that I don’t? And was it my imagination, or did Amber magically disappear in thin air?
Magic is not possible
Is it?
Magic is not logical
Isn’t it?
Then how do you explain:
· Humans glowing?
· Supernatural strength?
· Immortality?
Unanswerable questions whizzed through her head and shot away just as fast as they’d come, like flies, frustrating the hell out of her. The only thing that kept her sane was the reassuring words from Olivia, and the presence of Devon. So to rest her restless mind, Christi decided to lie down and relax.
It was at 9 P.M when Devon came…

Piczo